A US woman who shot and killed her husband and two adult children before taking her own life is thought to have committed the shocking crime as a result of being ostracised from the religion she was raised in.

A federal judge sentenced a former Arkansas judge Wednesday to five years in prison — a stiffer punishment than prosecutors recommended — after he admitted giving young male defendants lighter sentences in return for personal benefits that included sexual favours.

Every time I tell a mate I’m doing a story on cryptocurrency, they invariably ask me the same two questions: should they invest their own hard-earned money, and which cryptocurrency will get them a Lamborghini/yacht/island quickest?

In a 60 Minutes online exclusive, reporter Liz Hayes quizzed Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on his relationship with the unpredictable Twitter aficionado and US president Donald Trump ahead of their meeting at the White House Friday.

Congressman offered White House deal to let off Assange: report

A pro-Russia congressman offered to tell the White House who provided WikiLeaks with hacked Clinton campaign emails in exchange for the US dropping its probe into the group's leader Julian Assange, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher offered a "deal" in which Assange would furnish electronic evidence that would exculpate Russia as the source of the emails published last year by the anti-secrecy organization that did significant damage to Democrat Hillary Clinton's presidential run.

In exchange, the Journal said, Rohrabacher was seeking for Assange "a pardon or other act of clemency from President Donald Trump," it said.

The US Justice Department has acknowledged investigating Assange and WikiLeaks for the release of a series of top secret US documents and computer hacking tools as well as the Clinton emails.

No charges have been unveiled. But Washington is widely believed to have asked London to arrest and extradite the Australian if he steps out of his refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London, where he has lived for five years.

US intelligence officials have blamed Russia for the theft of Clinton campaign communications and documents last year as part of a deliberate effort to hurt her chances as president. They allege that WikiLeaks, in publishing the documents, knowingly acted in concert with Russian intelligence, and have branded it a "hostile intelligence service."

WikiLeaks has denied that the source of the material was the Russian government, but stresses it will never divulge the sources of the information in gets.